The new 3D printing process is set to revolutionize the industry

After two years in stealth mode, Carbon3D has finally unveiled its breakthrough 3D printing technology, which will make printing speed 25 to 100 times faster than that of any 3D printer model currently on the market. The announcement was made at the ongoing TED 2015 conference in Vancouver by Carbon3D co-founder Joseph DeSimone, who cites the transformable metallic goo from “Terminator 2” as inspiration. Instead of printing an object layer by layer as traditional 3D printers do, Carbon3D’s Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) technology shapes objects out of a pool of resin using precise bursts of light, which chisels a design into the resin by hardening the liquid, and oxygen, which keeps the resin malleable during the process. Literally built out of a pool of liquid, CLIP-processed objects achieve a totally smooth surface that is simply impossible to replicate using the current 3D printing layering technique.

Watch DeSimone’s radical reveal of Carbon3D’s CLIP technology in full above, or on TED’s website. TED has also made this year’s conference available via paid livestream, with access to the full archive available upon TED’s conclusion on 21 March 2015.